


Worlds 1: The Beginning

by Nintelda



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Fantasy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-27 12:29:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nintelda/pseuds/Nintelda
Summary: The classic tale of a girl who falls into Hyrule. Maizy enters this world, confused and flustered, her only goal is to venture with Link to find any way home, but when this way home is shrouded by an inconsistency in what the story is meant to be, she finds herself changed. A power that is not her own possesses her, and the Vinderendetta reveal themselves as the gears that are setting every single action off of its track.





	1. Chapter 1

A world of hollow beings had always filled the fictional worlds of my books. They smiled, they wept, yet in the end they didn’t exist, and they weren’t meant to. I believed in different universes, but I often used it to imagine the endless possibilities of a conversation and not the endless troubles it could put me in with just one snap of its all knowing fingers.  
The air was sweet with the taste of a new beginning bringing with it wafts of summer aroma. This back deck had been my place of peace, and reading. My eyes darted upward to the clear sky, then down, into the vibrant green of the forest licking my backyard like waves into a shoreline. I placed my book on the cushion of the chair where I had rested my feet and pushed up onto my toes from the fake wicker couch. Out there, between trunks of bark, was a flicker of blue distracting the elegant bending of branches.  
It had been appearing on and off all the while I was out there that short day. Every few pages turns it would steal my gaze, calling for me, before fading without my response. Another crack split through the forest cover, striking with a fast glimmer. This time, however, I saw where it began from.   
With a kick in my step I plopped back onto my heels, swept my book off the couch, turned back, and wrestled my screen door open. Not one eeking emotion dared speak about my neglect of the sandals left on the wooden panels, and not one of them shook their heads about my sudden approach for the door. Except for one.  
My pinky toe jammed into the small step up onto the frame of the door. I hadn’t even aimed for it to be there. With a solemn groan, I lifted my foot to check for blood and when there wasn’t any, I slid back up straight. Right at my face stared back myself, transparent in the reflection of a glass sliding door. Above my shoulder it crackled again, but this time with more luster.  
Unkempt hair had swung around with the spin of my body and head, tangled from having not been brushed that morning. Had I regretted anything, it wasn’t that, it wasn’t even the athletic shorts that had cursed me with burns, nor was it not wearing shoes as I gently walked down the steps of the deck and headed for the woods. It was the fact I had left my glasses on.   
The light had remained shifting and turning, only blinking at me, as I made my way across the yard. With every step, tension began to build up in my muscles. I had still been persuading myself to believe the statement that rung in my head, that I wouldn’t cross the edge of the forest. Deep down I knew, I wouldn’t stop, there was something in there and it was pulling me forward.   
A leaf crunched, I wiped pine needles off my heel, twigs dared me to press further so they could taste my blood, I moved slowly but I didn’t stop. Once the trunks had enveloped me, the blue light had decided to subside. It hid behind the endless trees, flickering, sometimes completely shrouded, other times split between branches. For a split second I wondered, under this canopy of leaves and surrounded by underbrush, I wondered if anyone would be able to hear me scream.  
The light grew wider, and dimmer, until I saw it, blocked down the middle by a tree trunk. It was close enough that it could no longer hide behind the underbrush anymore. My running halted, only briefly as I caught my breath, stepped aside the trunk, and jogged up to it. It was an oval, as tall as a mirror, smooth like a disk, a swirling blue, like an encased, flowing liquid. It glowed.  
My hand reached out gently for its surface, but when my feet didn’t move to bring it all the way, I froze. It took the sound of crunching leaves for me to recoil, to turn around, to go, but the moment I shifted my weight onto my front foot, something unseen collided into me. I landed on a branch, a snap throwing itself up into the crisp air, my book flying from my hand. For awhile I just stared there, at the trees, at the peaks of blue sky. It was a painting, a painting I wouldn’t see again for quite some time after I got up again, and faced the blue light once more.  
In my chest, I was quivering, even as I was able to will myself to reach out my hand once more. Everything shook violently, refusing to do as I knew I was being told. As my last step brought my hand to the smooth surface, an intense chill jolted down my arm and into my whole being. I didn’t see anything that followed, my vision had snapped to a blur, but something grabbed my arm. In the last blurred rays of light filtering into my eyes I only felt a hand wrench me forward before I was swallowed by blue, then nothing but black.  
There was a taste of death on my lips until all slipped and was gone.

A blinding light filtered onto my pupils. What followed was a sharp pain that struck my chest before it began to race through my veins. My stomach lurched and the following fit of coughing didn’t do much to help it. Lapping over my legs and hands was water, shallow, soothing. When my coughing didn’t stop I fell into it.  
The movement of blood in my body was tangible as everything overlapped and curled into each other, my limbs tingling like they’d just woken up after a deep sleep. A war was going on between my senses. Yet, coughing diminishing, I finally found the sharper edges of the painting drawn before me. I was in a shallow spring, water of a crystal blue hue, sand almost white. The light drew out a deeper headache from my skull.  
In the midst of panic, I sent all my strength to my legs, but even that was no use, I stumbled back into the water. There I would stay.  
No matter how long I waited, the numb sensation in my legs didn’t go away, and no matter the number of attempts, I couldn’t stand. Another attempt brought more pins and needles that jabbed themselves into my feet all the way up to my thighs. I found myself back in the water, my own two legs had given out from underneath me.   
It was only then that my breath started to shiver and topple in and out of my lungs. Faster every second. Around me I saw nothing but the spring as I was blocked in by a round of small cliffs that yanked out any hope I felt from my body. Over, far enough away, I saw the opening and I heard something. Above the white noise of cascading water, like the footsteps of two people, running in close sync.  
I sat up, eyes fallen into the trees just beyond the only gateway. If someone was coming, they’d come by there, I knew. In my heart was a spike of adrenaline, and from my chest arose a scream, a plea of, “Help!”  
I heard the pounding grow louder and I repeated myself, trying to match its crescendo. Though, each shout died off, quieter than the last. My crying had arisen from a quiet place and it remained diminutive. It was not as hard as shouting but it didn’t cease to end like every word that had punctuated the air.   
Out here was warm, just like the Summer’s day I had left, but it was thick and it was raucous and it wasn’t anywhere I’d been before. Nowhere I’d seen before. That’s what I perceived.   
Past the opening of the clearing rushed past a figure. That was the loudest the footsteps had gotten before they disappeared completely behind the veil of a horse’s grunt. The wind suspended itself, dropping all noise with it. Nothing but a softened, fuzzy impression of reality remained in my brain, sharpened by nothing. I wanted to sleep.  
From the corner of a gate emerged a young man. His posture was nearly regal, he walked as if he carried a cape in tow, and watched me as if I was a beggar. He weighed coins in his hands as I wiped off tears. The decision made itself rather quickly, and he tossed me gold, “Were you the one calling for help?”  
I searched for my voice after his, entranced by the tamber, that of a breeze flowing through a forest. It’s ring caught me in a familiarity, the more I looked around, the more the man before me formed something I’d seen before. I found no words to say at all as tears punched at my eyes once again.  
From the shore, the young man called out once more, “Hey, are you okay?”   
“I-” my lips shut themselves when he took a step forward, a brown boot disturbing the water. In his widened gaze I found a pair of blue eyes, two crystals that glimmered in the sunlight. From long, pointed ears dangled earrings, small loops the same color as the sky. In these features alone I could find a world, a world I knew very well, “I can’t feel my legs,” my head grew light and I nearly fainted into sobs.  
“Do you want me to help you up?” he asked, concern washing over his face.  
I took a deep breath, croaking, “Yes.”  
The young man who I was only a stranger to stepped towards me and reached down for my arms. Even through his best efforts to hold me upright, I found no good enough hold in the sand to keep myself on my feet. Before I could tumble back into the water below, he’d caught me in a suffocating embrace.   
“Can you walk at all?”  
I restrained myself from wiping my nose on his green tunic before moving my face sideways so I could see the spring, “No…”  
He sighed and I felt his breath cold against the top of my head, “I could carry you.” he paused, “If you’re comfortable with that.”  
His chest rose up and down. I tried to make mine go to the same rhythm, but my lungs quivered far too much. And I got no break as my heart resounded in my ears, calling out every familiar thing in view until I could come to terms with it all. Until I could believe it. I had seen it all before, but I didn’t dare say from where. Not until I asked a question and heard its reply loud and clear. “Who are you?”  
“Link,” he replied softly.  
The world tripped over itself and slammed me down into the ground. I could hear the names of people and places laughing at me as if they were a part of the childish game they came from once again. They sat vivid on my tongue, lucid in the trees. Hyrule had consumed my feet in its waters and filled my lungs with its humid air.   
Memories of sitting on the couch in a bored delusion of nostalgia had surged back to me and briefly I watched myself play Legend of Zelda, when I thought nothing about if the place my hands guided the character of Link through was real, somewhere. Each game flicked by, and my absent eyes mingled finally on an image of Twilight before I was prodded away.  
“Are you okay?” Link tried to drag my body up further to see my face, but I didn’t cooperate and slid back down, “I don’t have a lot of time, we need to get going. I’m sorry.”   
I found the air still once more, daring me to shake it, and I did. For once, the air bent to my will, and it talked for me. “Okay…” In a single moment I had my hands clasped at the back of his neck, and I felt weightless in his arms.  
He walked out of the spring and onto a dirt road that lead through a forest. I could make out a clearing just up ahead, past a tall horse only a few paces away. She was a rusty red with a white mane. I bit my lip at the sight, preventing further shock from coursing through my brain.   
As we passed her, Link whistled sharply and nodded his head forward. She began following.   
As if all of this was an orchestrated normality, he began talking to me, casually, but never looking down. “Where are you from?”  
I scowled at his hair now, marveling at how dirty blonde and high definition it was while trying to decide whether to tell the truth or not. “Massachusetts…”   
He raised an eyebrow, “Where’s that…?”  
I took a deep breath of the forest air, finding myself content with its smell and the newfound coolness its canopy of leaves gave in its shadow, “I think it’s far away.”   
“From Hyrule?”   
The light of the clearing I’d seen from far away met my eyes and my calm demeanor dropped at the sight of Link’s house. “Yeah...” I fell silent. My body meditated there, peaceful for just enough time before I felt like crying again.   
“What’s your name?” he inquired, softly looking down at me like I was a doll. All I could do to see him was squint.  
“Maizy.”   
He narrowed his eyes as he stopped walking, “Maizy, huh...that’s pretty.”  
“I guess…” I murmured.  
“But uh-” he looked back up, widening his eyes, and getting back to his business. I was left leaning against the massive tree trunk that was his inherent house while he settled his horse into place and went to go grab something from inside. Ahead of the clearing was a small rise in land, haphazardly shoveled to level ground to create a pathway into what I could tell was a small grouping of houses.   
Halfway through sitting there and contemplating, my legs regained feeling. I was picking at the grass, wondering about my family and where they thought I was, where I actually might be, when they returned. It had felt like blood had cascaded down them, smacking rocks as they fell. It was painful and they remained sore afterward, but I could move them. Rather than just stand, I remained glued to my place, deciding whether to lie or not once Link would come out.   
“You alright?” he’d said as he shut the door.  
“Yeah.”  
Link dropped down from the ladder that lead up to his doorway and kneeled down beside me. “You sure?”   
I nodded.  
“Okay. Well, there’s a mayor in Ordon who can help you out if you just need a place to rest or anything..” He looked at me oddly for a moment, “But...if you need my help, I could figure something else out.”  
“Yeah...yeah, I’ll think about it. Sounds uh...G.” I muttered just loud enough. Although it probably confused him to no end, he smirked as he lifted me off my able feet and headed toward town.  
As he strolled on I tore my eyes away from his face and watched as something entirely old became something new. In Ordon there were only a few colorful houses, all of odd shapes and containing odd people. With the sun it was impossibly warm and homely. I could smell the pumpkins that grew across the area in small patches. Although no person graced my sight while I watched, I could find the love of the people as it laced the atmosphere and suffocated me.  
Past a small stream sat a house with a waterwheel. I felt its familiar hand grasp me, but it’s skin had gained more color since the last time. Behind the house itself was acres of crops, mostly pumpkin patches, yet it was the largest part of the town.   
“Do you live here?”  
“Yeah.” We crossed the stream as he headed toward this large house surrounded by fencing. Beyond it led towards another set of risen cliffs. There was an opened pathway that came up like a ramp with an arch that bore a sign. Though I could not read Hylian, I knew that was the way to the ranch.   
“It’s nice.”  
Where there would have been a gate was nothing, and Link entered the yard of the large house. He stepped up onto the porch, as if visiting an old friend, and attempted his best knock on the door with his hand that was underneath my knees.   
After a moment a portly man answered the door, saving me the grace of having to sit in silence with Link. The man looked happy, briefly, before concern took over and he plagued us with an onslaught of questions. Particularly asking of Link, and not me.  
“Calm down, Bo, I’ll explain everything, I just need a favor first.” He gave a reassuring smile. Between all the awkward circumstances, I was surprised at how convincing it was.   
“I’m sorry, the town has been in a panic.” Bo waved us inside, sniffling slightly and moving the horns jutting out of his cheeks up and down. “What do you need?”   
The foyer was cozy with a couple chairs and bookcases near a fireplace. Ahead was a closed pair of doors, to the right was a stairwell, and to the left was an open bedroom.   
“I found this girl at the spring. She says she’s far away from home and can’t feel her legs. All she needs is a place to stay until she gets better.” Link glanced at something, “I know you have a room.”   
The mayor nodded solemnly, gesturing toward the open door, “She can stay for now.”  
“It won’t be long, I’m sure.” Link twisted his lips, “But um, I just need to talk in private for a moment, then I’ll be right out.” there was a pause, “Nothing to worry about.”  
Bo nodded and went to go sit in one of the chairs. Meanwhile, Link carried me into the abandoned room. Inside was simply a bed, a dresser, and a mirror. A window on the wall was covered in elegant green curtains that matched the sheets on the bed. An awfully feminine sense of design somehow shrouded the room in gloom. Link seemed uncomfortable looking at it.  
He let me go onto my feet and, pretending I had no balance, I plopped into the bed, heels firmly pressed against the wood. I was still partially soaked in water and I shivered, but there was nothing that could warm me.   
“I need to know what happened.” Link stood over me, intimidatingly.   
I found it hard to form words all of a sudden. “I don’t know, I was walking through the forest, I saw a blue light, and I touched it.” I shrugged, “Next thing I know I wake up and my legs-”  
“Was the light black and blue?”  
“No, just blue.” I cracked my thumbs, tapping each of my fingers against my knees. After staring at my hands I lifted my eyes back up.  
“You’ve never been here?” Link stared me straight in the eyes. It was surreal, like we were grasping a hold on each other’s existence. I didn’t tear away from it.  
I chose my words carefully, “I’ve...seen...this ‘place’ before.”  
“In what way? Books? Have you read about us, have you visited Ordon?” His eyebrows were drawn together.  
I shook my head, “I-I know about this place. I’ve been...to Hyrule.”  
A deep breath filled him. In a second he broke our eye contact and was looking at the door. “We can discuss more later.” He watched me as I pulled a leg up to the bed and hugged it, “Your legs feeling better?”  
My face instantly lost color boring holes into the flow with my gaze, “Uh...Uh, yeah.”  
“Um...good.” He turned away quickly, but I dropped my foot like the dead weight it used to be and called out to him.  
“Link, wait!” I could tell he found me crazy, and maybe it was best if I lost him so I wouldn’t have to endure the dangers of his world. But I knew, whatever had brought me here didn’t bring me here to lounge around. My way home was on a different path, and whether it intertwined with Link’s, I wouldn’t know unless I tried.  
His foot stuck itself in a spot where water had dripped off from my hair, his gaze fluttered back to me for one more second.   
I hesitated there, but I found my mouth somehow, and I made it speak, “Do you...do you know what Twilight is?”  
I could see the recognition flash in his eyes and I held onto it, “The time of day when two worlds become one.”   
There was a bounce in his step as he left the room, equipment clinking together on his back. I watched his shield disappear behind the door.   
In the moments that followed I recollected the past hour. With each memory triggered a new influx of tears. I cried for my family, for food, for warmth. My glasses became smudged and soon enough I took them off. When I placed them down, my eye caught on the mirror. It was angled so I only saw my legs, but as I stood up, my body filled its full view.   
My hair was a mess, not only wet, but knotted all over from having not been brushed. I checked around the room for a brush and on the dresser sat a dusty one, painted a glassy green. It was stuck with wooden pick that looked dangerous to put through my hair. Nonetheless I began the process of painfully smoothing out all the knots until I was satisfied with myself. However, nothing kept my eyes away from my shorts and t-shirt. They lingered, wondering what I could possibly do to change them so I wouldn’t stand out. But in the end I couldn’t bring myself to think of getting rid of them.  
They reminded me of home already.  
I instead began to fascinate myself with my acne that wove itself between a sea of freckles. Around my green eyes was a deep flushed red from my crying. The familiar puffy look only brought me further into gloom. After that I just threw myself onto the bed, shut my eyes, and nearly fell asleep as I waited there for Link.  
Soon enough the thoughts that he wouldn’t come back for me came rushing in, but then I heard his voice followed by laughter. It took a lot out of my tired head, but I managed to sit up and listened carefully as their voices grew louder, then passed by my door. I heard thank you’s, then I heard a goodbye before the room outside my door fell silent. The front door creaked open, then slowly, it shut.  
My breath left me, my legs carried me onto my feet, and I nearly sprinted towards the bedroom door before it swung open. Link hovered in the doorway, staring at me. Neither of us spoke.  
With tension in his movements, he shut the door. It was like he was thawing, moving slowly, staring at the floor, then finally, he exhaled, and looked at me, “You brushed your hair.”  
I brought my arms up to my chest, wrapping my hands together, “Uh, yeah I did.”  
“You can stand now?”  
“Ever since you put me on the ground in front of your house.” I clenched my teeth, “I was afraid to tell you. For some reason.” The soreness in my legs weighed on me in that moment, but I didn’t quiver. “I’m sorry.”  
Link sighed, “It’s okay...”  
“About earlier…” I took a deep breath, “In Massachusetts, your world is a work of fiction. And I’ve uh...read it all before. I know this story.”  
Link scowled at me, “And what is this story?”  
I took a step back, “The story of twilight, the story of a wolf and an imp named Midna,” my words resounded like poetry in my ears. He began tapping his toes into the floor. There were no words to say, they’d all been taken from him. “I came here like how I explained earlier and I don’t know how to get home. Me knowing your future must be of help, so in exchange of me-”  
“It’s fine, you can tag along.” His eyes were dull and exhausted as he glared at me.  
“Wha-but...don’t you find me the least bit suspicious?!” My voice raised itself with my eyebrow, but he didn’t reconsider his decision, seemingly in spite of my confusion.  
He shrugged, “I probably should, you’re right.” The sun cast streaks on his boots as they stepped away towards the door. “For some reason I trust you, though.” In the wake of these words, we left.   
On the way back through town he explained that we were headed to Death Mountain and that I was to stay as out of the way as possible at all times until I could fend for myself. The sense that I was in over my head submerged me, but nonetheless I kept walking. Something in my chest lead me forward.  
Like someone’s voice was speaking to me inside my own head.


	2. Falling

His house seemed different to me now. Rather than residing in a dreamlike state, it was real. When I reached out to touch the ladder, Link gave me an odd look from the other side of his horse.   
I retracted my hand before he could question me.  
We’d been procrastinating actually setting out by not talking to each other. Instead we meandered around, aimlessly finding the footholds for each next step. Maybe it was that I wasn’t prepared, neither mentally nor physically, for any fight we’d face, and thus he was lost in thought at what to do with me. However, Link had assured that I wouldn’t have to fight anything for awhile. All that chatter about what I could do and what we needed all faded into a thick anxiety. mIt wrapped the grass around my toes and didn’t let me move.  
But Link pressed his horse towards me, hiding behind a shroud of silence that covered any emotion. “Ready?” he asked. It was simple and plain.  
As I took my gaze off of the ladder I stared up at the horse, Epona. Her mane was a snowy white that was dirtied by battle and the reflection of her red coat. Although I reached almost eye level to her, she remained above me, looking down. Link appeared beside her, holding onto her reigns.  
“What’s wrong? Haven’t you ever seen a horse before?” he tilted his head at me.   
Epona bobbed her snout up and down and Link’s answer displayed itself then when I immediately jumped back like she was going to charge at me. I guess the expression on my face was priceless as well because a laugh drained out of his mouth, slow and quiet, growing louder just like the steps that had brought him to finding me.  
“No, I haven’t.” I sighed deeply, calming my heart to stop beating so hard as he consoled his own laughter for a few moments.   
An occasional chuckle still escaped the longer he watched my dismal frown, but he managed to stay composed enough to finally speak. “Alright,” he started, “alright…I’ll help you out.” He lifted himself into the saddle and pointed down at a loop where his foot had been, “Put your foot in the stirrup, I’ll pull you up, and once you’re high enough just swing your other leg over.”  
“Impossible, no.” I crossed my arms, trying to mask my nerves with some stubborn resolve.   
“Come on, I don’t have all day.” he complained, then sarcastically added, “Adventure awaits.”  
“Adventure,” I mused quietly. The adventure had already happened, that being coming here, that was it, I wasn’t brave enough to face another. I was barely brave enough to look up in time to see Link had outstretched his hand to me, patiently watching as I thought to only myself and didn’t speak.   
On top of the saddle he was almost intimidating, yet he reached for me and through him something in me melted slowly. Gingerly, I saw my own hand leave my side to greet his. He held on tightly. A deep breath eliminated the buzz clouding my ability to move, and I moved, reluctantly. My legs cried heavily as I put my foot up into the stirrup, pain shooting up to my thighs.  
I sunk back down quickly, “Ow.”  
“You can do it.”  
I tried again, ignoring every weakened muscle until I was nearly there and threw myself the rest of the way. Letting go of Link’s hand, I tried to back myself up from him to be as far away as possible, but the more I moved the more the ground threatened to grab me. Finally submitting to the greater fear, I fell in closely behind him and hesitantly settled my hands on his shoulders. A part of me wanted to wrap my arms around his torso, but his shield remained in the way and I was too afraid to ask him to remove it.  
The first step and each step afterwards were like small nightmares that played with my nerves. I couldn’t comprehend my own fear in those moments, why everything made me leap. A small voice poked back out at me and it was then I realized I’d shut my eyes.   
It asked again, louder, “Are you alright?”   
I opened my lids, gazing out at a chasm that ended in nothing but endless fog. Hooves hit wood, but although this scene should have terrified me, I found myself breathing and speaking. “I’m...fine.” I rested my chin on the back of my hand, “I think.”  
Epona sped up again.  
“Nevermind.” My head flew back and I gripped him tighter.   
“Are you always like this?” Link attempted a glance back at me as we flitted by a forest. In the distance I could see the land rise up sharply.   
“Yeah...I probably should’ve mentioned that.” I murmured.  
Ahead of us opened up a clearing and a beach, then I saw the water of a spring. It ran by leisurely, boasting its opaque waters and small falls before we could get past it. I tried to look back but it was gone from sight.   
“Probably,” he agreed, “but it’s okay.”  
We continued on like that, never reaching a full gallop, but making quick progress through the woods. Every once and awhile he would ask me a question about myself and I would answer, never asking in return. Things like small hobbies, where I was from. I laid them all out simply. I played flute, went to school, I explained that most people around me were well off so that the peculiarity of my life might just seem like one big luxury for the rich.  
The trees continued on further than the game had allowed them. We should’ve already been in the field, but we were still under a full canopy of leaves. I was watching the branches wave and the underbrush reach out into the path when a clearing finally opened up. On the other side was a ramshackle cabin, a fire popping outside with a pot laid over it.  
As I looked straight ahead I could see the trees thinning. Each movement forward brought more and more of the large expanse into view. It was like the world was opening up to me, showing me its beauty and begging me to stay. My body was nearly draped over Link’s as I leaned forward with widened eyes.  
Far in the distance was the castle, grand and high in a blackened and twilight curtain. A veil fell over half the field and the lower to the ground it got, the darker it became. Separating us was nothing but fields and trees, hills and cliffs, but in sight I could see it. I felt my arm begin to move outward to reach for it, but I stopped it, letting it rest.  
Link paid the view no mind as we took a turn westward and continued on like the castle wasn’t there.   
“It’s even prettier than I expected.” I remarked.  
“What?” Link looked at the curtain of Twilight, “That thing?”  
“Everything.” Despite everything, I lost all panic. My hair bounced behind me and the small breeze that caught around us sang me a song. The warmth of the sun guided my tongue out of its place, allowing me a peace as I began asking questions. The first one, I’ll never forget, “Why’d you let me come along?”  
Link hesitated, shrugging his shoulders carefully, “I guess you seemed innocent enough to me.”  
“Innocent? That doesn’t mean I can fight, like you said I would have to anyway. Aren’t I in over my head?” I paused, trying to lean a way that I could see his face. When I thought I might have leaned over enough, we passed underneath a tree and his expression was undecipherable in shadow as I retreated back, “So, why’d you really let me?”  
“I-I don’t know, I’ll tell you later.”   
Later? What was later? Where would the story lead us...later? I sighed, entertaining myself with the ground. Ahead of us were the mountains now, but I was too deep in thought. What was later? Each memory seemed to me unharmful, maybe I was just dumb.   
But then I remembered.  
“What the-” Link gasped.  
My head shot up and caught the tail end of something rushing through a gate. I heard myself, barely having registered my lips moving, “Colin.” So gentle, yet Link tensed up immediately.  
“What?!” his voice quivered.  
“Colin!”  
I found myself doomed in a split second. The previous waves of his voice crashed into the rocks at shore. Gravely, he yelled, “Hiyah,” and we took off in a sprint. There wasn’t any time to process my terror, so I threw my arms around his neck. Although I tugged him back, he didn’t complain.  
The grand field was disrupted by rock and cliff until a small town leapt out from the mountain. We’d caught up to the creatures just barely in time to see them disappear behind a corner, but rather than press on, he abruptly stopped Epona. She flew up on her hind legs, neighing loudly as I choked Link and quieting as she dropped back down. Not even a second afterward my arms were being torn off.  
“Get off,” Link threw my hands back and glared at me.   
I rubbed my palm where his nail dug too deep, “Wha-what?”  
“I said, get off!” he pleaded with me urgently, but my mind still had yet to process anything correctly, it was too busy shooting adrenaline everywhere.  
“I-I,” I took a deep breath of the coarse air, above us the sun cried out with its last dying rays. With it, it was taking me too. I lost myself for far too long and with an exasperated look from Link, the horse galloped underneath us again.   
The town blurred beside us. We were a bullet set out to kill and as everything went by I felt my body enter flesh once again. It was like I came back from an absence, only to be greeted with chaos.   
“Link?”  
“What?!”  
“I change my mind. Let me off.” I wrapped my arms around his torso, pressing myself against his shield as I shut my eyes.  
“It’s a little too late.” I could hear the malice in his voice, but then softly, “If you can reach my pouch quickly, there should be a knife in there. It isn’t much, but it’s enough.” he shifted his arms, reaching up and towards his back on his left side, “Oh, and everything in there is small, feel around carefully.”   
I inhaled a hard scent of Link’s sweat, opening my eyes to the sight of nothing but the massive expanse of field, obstructed only by a chasm. Looking up, the unsheathing of a sword rung high while my hand left its hold and searched without looking for the first pouch. Upon the horizon was a gang of bulblins riding boars, in the middle was a large one, the “King,” atop a blue pig.   
We were racing, but each action registered slowly, the unhooking of the clasp, my hand slipping in. At the bottom I felt the tiniest prick and poked it up. In my hand arose a small blade all the while Epona slowed to a stop and Link lowered his sword. Between us and them was distance enough to shoot a thousand arrows accurately, yet no one moved.   
A pole. Tied to it was a boy, dangling lifelessly. In the dying sunset there was a breeze that carried the rope’s end. Link yelled out at it, “What the hell is this? Who are you with?!”  
The leader of the group brought a horn to his lips and blew into it. In unison, his underlings charged while he turned away. As the King himself began to ride off, Link shouted once more, urging Epona to run even while we were engulfed on all sides by bulblins.   
My left arm held tightly onto him, my right holding out the knife without any idea what to do with it. Some had bows, others held simple blades, and one got too close and captured a sword straight through its chest. Most of me remained composed, however my eyes widened as I watched the blood stained sword be torn out. The bulblin’s lifeless body slumped to the ground as the boar still ran.   
While we continued to gain ground ahead of the hoard, I gripped the knife harder, restricting my breath so it wouldn’t pant in Link’s ear. “Um,” I whispered, “Why’d you let me come along again?”  
Link gritted his teeth, pressing Epona ever faster and my heart nearly to burst, “What kind of question is that?! I don’t know, you seemed to know something!” The blue boar grew larger on the horizon, scampering along slow enough to catch up to. “You know anything right now?!”  
I offered what I could in a half laughing, flustered sentence, “Um, well, you’re gonna like...play a game of chicken with him on Eldin Bridge. It’ll be...uh…” I thought for a moment, “It’s gonna be zesty.”  
Link huffed, “It’s gonna be what?!” he pulled to the right, culling tension up into his sword, eyeing him, the King whose skin was an acidic green with clothes as savagely torn as his demeanor.   
I breathed in as the sword pulled back, leaning away from Link’s left. It sliced into the King’s muscle, flinging blood past us. Above towered the pole, fiercely wobbling with every gallop. A club arose in front of us and Epona began to slow to avoid the swing. That was all it took for the King to speed away and for his hoard to barely lick our heels once more.  
Link flicked the reigns harder in a vain attempt to push Epona, but she was far too exhausted from the burst before. Scattered around us, he looked for another bulblin to poke off its beast. The knife was still gripped into my fist, getting slippery with sweat. I swallowed hard as a bulblin squealed somewhere to my left, the sound of a sword leaving flesh following afterwards.  
We broke away again, but I wasn’t watching for the King, if he grew closer, if Link was readying his sword again. All I heard was its grunt, all I felt was the knife in my hand. I could tell that we’d fallen back again when a blob of brown and green figures obstructed the grass. They were blurry caricatures, thrashing and shouting all around us. Link began swinging, threatening to elbow me at any moment. I was losing the grip on the knife slowly, but I couldn’t bring myself to let it go.  
In the cacophony, one of the bulblins stood out from the fog. Its arm was back, pulled on a bow string with an arrow aimed right at Link’s head. I watched Link do nothing, attention stuck to the right where he was deflecting a rally of blows with his sword. When I looked back, its hand released the arrow.  
The knife slid out of my fingers as I reached out in earnest for the arrow. Link’s eyes switched over to our side, widening. Something gripped my arm, I felt it, but I couldn’t see it. It numbed my limb, drawing out all feeling through my palm. In between us erupted a red pane, clear, thin. The arrow struck it, plinking off but not without cracking the surface.   
I panted as it faded from the air and a hot sensation overtook the numb from before.   
Link shook his head, leaning forward as we surged away from the bulblins. I remained still, reaching out for nothing, repeating in my mind, “It wasn’t me.” Sense came back in time and my palm lied itself on his shoulder. His muscles were rigid. As the wind enveloped us, strands of my hair tangled around each other, flicking past my ears. The king came up on our left again, steering away just not fast enough for a sword to strike down across his back.  
A cry grated out of his throat and he peered back at us. Epona valiantly kept pace, galloping directly behind as we bulleted across the field and towards a long stone bridge. It hovered over the chasm, the bottom but darkness. Crumpling up the fabric of his tunic, I gritted my teeth and uttered to Link, “This is it.”  
His eyes ridiculed me, “What should I do?”   
“I don’t know...Get Colin safe first?”   
Link thought briefly, “Can I try something crazy?”   
I nodded meekly as he sheathed his sword, “I’ll grab that pole thing, you cut it down, quickly. Willing to give it a shot?”  
I shook my head.  
We were lead through pathways of ruined columns that lead up to the archway of the Bridge of Eldin. The sun painted the stone a deep orange on the other side, however the front was cast in shadow. It passed over us, depriving a warmth until we slowed to a stop at its threshold. The King kept on.   
“That was you back there, right?” Link studied him across the bridge.  
“No, dingus.” I released his tunic, adjusting the hem of my sleeves gingerly.  
“Dingus? I see, this one’s an insult.” he scowled, “You know more than you’re letting on.”  
The King turned his boar.  
I clamped down on his shoulders again. “I really don’t. And even if that was me, it was an accident. I can’t recreate that.” Link didn’t seem to hear me, “You’re being an idiot risking this, you know that, right?!”   
“Right.”  
Epona broke into a gallop. The sword still sat in its sheath.  
“Link!” I pleaded, but on the other side, the boar had already started running as well. I cast a look behind us, searching for maybe an escape, but where we’d entered was now crowded by the hoard. They sneered and cheered wildly, raising spears and clubs. One fired a flaming arrow into the air, whooping.   
My eyes went narrow and I looked forward. Our collision course was just barely met. I knew the King had too much pride to dodge out of the way, so despite Link’s stubborn sense, we would have to veer first. Yet Link wasn’t moving.   
The clip of hooves surged with the thumping of my heart, closer and closer. Stone, steed, flesh, then air. Epona was on the verge of sticking herself into the boar’s horns before her reigns were tugged right. The King’s body flashed past us, an up close account of dirt and grim layered over saggy skin. It was all a flicker in a mist.  
Link reached and gripped the pole, waiting to throw out his other hand if I reacted in time. My mind didn’t, however, it hadn’t even prepared, I’d distracted myself to assure that. The next second he’d let go and kept riding on to the other end of the bridge. When the exit was but an inch away to pass, he pulled back hard and Epona rose up on her hind legs. The new silence of the air soothed the buzzing violence in my head, but it didn’t persist.  
“You’re not even going to try?” he complained, turning us around.  
“I’m sorry, I got distracted…”   
Link sighed, “I’ll give you one more chance if you want it.” A hand rested on his hilt, “So?”  
“Why not just knock him off of the boar?” I questioned, slouching.  
“If that’s what you want to do.” Link cocked his head at the King, “I don’t know how much longer he’ll wait.”  
“This is your fight!” I straightened, “Stop testing me!”   
He grunted, pulling out his sword from its sheath as Epona charged, “Don’t know why I trusted you anyways.”   
I locked my eyes forward, waiting for the moment when we dodged. Maybe if this was a dream I could knock us off and wake up. Maybe, if this was but a dream, I’d already have woken up. As we raced down the middle I didn’t know what my decision was, whether I would ruin it all, in some way, or whether I would try, somehow, to save it.  
The same sensation danced across both of my limbs as I drew out some essence within me. There was an energy flowing there, through my bloodstream, an energy I wasn’t familiar with, but with one look, had shown up. My arms were growing number, my hand tense while holding back something. Our approach came up against each other. Head to head.  
Link cast right, coming across with a slice through the King’s arm. I directed my palm at him, releasing the tension to a wave of green lightning that enveloped him sporadically, but did little to cast him off like I’d hoped.   
We went back again, turning without any conversation and sprinting once more as he slid his sword away in exchange for a shield. The King came up, Link veered right, the moment of all colliding into one, he abruptly pulled in closer after avoiding, driving his shield up into the King’s chest.   
He lost his balance, shifting slightly out, then slipping all at once off with the saddle that glided to the other side. Obstructed by his steed, and Link, I couldn’t see what had happened, but had heard the thump of him hitting the ground and nothing more. Once the boar had cleared away, there was no one left.   
The brief reprise was broken by Epona’s movements once again, beginning toward the boar before it got away with Colin. Link changed weapons, bumping me not so delicately with his shield. Not even a sorry followed suite.  
I didn’t care, there were much more pressing issues. We were running straight towards the hoard that blocked the entryway. Nothing seemed to be stopping Link, he just kept on. When we caught up to the boar, he sliced down the pole, catching it in both hands, but not bringing it down. We still didn’t stop either. But now, I was seeing why.   
Around the opening the hoard was quickly dispersing out of our way, picking off, one by one. Their images were blurry browns as we broke through them, and left them behind. They didn’t chase after us, they ran away.   
As we beat on, Link struggled to lower the pole and reach the reigns with a sword in one of his grasps. I reached out, holding around it with both hands. He dropped it with his left, settling half the weight to me which I struggled to hold. The grass turned to stone, the stone turned to cliffs, and we were spiraling through the town once more. Houses and abandoned storefronts glided by, left behind at the sight of the lake. Epona slowed down, galloping, trotting, and walking slowly to a stop.  
Hands free, Link grabbed the pole back from me and jumped off. By the lake’s shore was a group of kids and a man. They all looked at Link anxiously. When he reached them and lowered the pole in their midst they all crowded around Colin, watching as he loosened the rope and propped up his head.  
The kid didn’t come to for a couple minutes and the air was filled with a roar of excitement, worry, and question. One question, although quiet, met my ears like it was louder than the rest. “Who’s the girl?” It had come from the smallest one, Malo. His clothes reached past his feet and his eyes were a deep brown, I could tell because he stared right at me.  
I don’t think Link answered that one. At least because the little blonde freckled girl had enthusiastically gushed over if he had any new scars from the fight directly over Malo. He replied a “No,” I heard that much.   
The sun was quickly setting over the lake. It’d already draped most of the town into shade, but this one spot remained untouched. I itched to slip out of the saddle and possibly halfway across town, so my hands held Epona’s mane and I swung myself off. When my feet hit ground, my legs throbbed.   
The lake had gone silent. I didn’t walk over or even look, but as a small voice spoke, “Link…” I knew Colin had woken up. Their voices were gentle from there. Floating on the breeze like leaves in fall.  
I listened to every word as I stood there, I drank them in, staring at nothing but my feet until they just stopped. They’d followed in a party, disappearing behind a creaky door. A hope that Link had left me crept into my head. Ultimately, it was crushed by a pair of boots and a hand.  
“Hey, thanks.” Link inched his hand closer, “I’m sorry, I should’ve let you off.” he laughed, waiting one more second before dropping it to his side. “You, uh...you in there?”  
I shook my head, “Too much.”  
“I was thinking of gathering some food for later. You want to walk? I can stop talking.”   
“Why aren’t you with them? With your cousin?” I held my arms tight to my chest.  
Link shifted uncomfortably in his boots, “I can’t just leave you standing here. They’ll have dinner later anyway, I can see them then.” he stepped to the side, “Come on, I’ll walk you to the inn.” As he passed by me, I finally looked up at him. He began leading Epona on.   
Somberly, I followed him. He reverted to the promise of silence, not speaking, not glancing, praying I was behind him.   
“Why’d you let me come along?”  
His whole body stuttered, “Goddesses, you scared me.”  
I stepped up beside him, peering him down, “I want an answer this time.”  
An exasperated sigh heaved out of his chest, afterwards was nothing. Lips twisting, fingers tapping, he finally let out an answer, “I figured if you weren’t entirely crazy maybe I could use you. And I guess I trusted you enough.” he shrugged, “Selfish reasons.”  
I leaned down to his eye level, “And now???”  
Obnoxious, that was what I was, “Still selfish. I’m not usually the welcoming type, I work on my own. Unless you want to have a deal?”  
I scowled at him, “Depends.”  
“You help me, I’ll help you.”  
“I don’t know if you noticed, but what I did ‘back there?’ I can’t control that. Can’t you get some other witch?” my back straightened, “Plus I don’t want to be your weapon even if I figure this out. I want to get home.”  
“Magic isn’t as common as you think it is...dingus.” he spat, “It’s meant to be protected.” We stopped in front of a building with a porch, part of the left side was left in splinters. “Or destroyed I guess.” he looked at me, “What’s your deal anyway?”  
“Can’t you just help me? I thought you were nice.”  
“I have bigger issues that need to be addressed,” he scoffed, “If your stories are correct, you should already know that.”  
Link wasn’t wrong, saving Hyrule was a far greater cause than getting my selfish ass home. Nonetheless I was angry, having gone through the day and in the end getting picked off didn’t sit well. “You said magic isn’t common, so any enemy would want to get their hands on me, whether I turned out valuable or not.” his stiff resolve softened, “By your selfish logic, I’d be an important asset to keep around, wouldn’t I?” I sighed, “Please.”  
He crossed his arms, “Well I,” turning away, he grumbled, “I see your point.”  
“Sorry,” I mumbled as Link tied Epona’s reigns to the porch, “I’m sorry.”  
He glared at me, “You didn’t have that power before?”   
I thought he’d already found that out, but it didn’t matter either way, maybe he was bringing something up. “No.”   
There was a long pause where he stared at me intently. Judging from his twisted lips, he knew something and was figuring whether to hold it back or not. “Midna warned about these creatures.”  
“Oh yeah?” I coaxed, blood pumping in my ears suddenly.  
“She said they were dangerous, that if I ever found someone with golden blood, to kill them immediately.” he recalled, calling up a wall of fire between us.  
An anxious laugh slid by my lips, “My blood’s red, I’ve gotten enough scratches from my cats to know that.” I avoided the fact that I had only recently gotten the power, avoided that my blood might be golden now, rather than before.  
Link evaded it as well, “Weird… Well, I’m gonna go get some provisions for our trip up Death Mountain. I’ll make sure to get you shoes. You okay waiting in there?”  
I nodded.  
“See ya later then.” It was like he played with the fire in his last dying look, a threat that should I cross him, I would get burned.  
He ran off back in the direction we came, toward the large cement house. Not knowing what else to do I climbed the broken steps and slid inside the door. In the lobby was a couple tossed over tables and chairs. I sat in the closest set that wasn’t knocked over and marveled at the room. All around, the floor was torn up, broken dishes scattered by the kitchen and a lantern nearby by lit the whole area dimly. It looked like a cleaning was attempted, but not nearly finished.   
I shut my eyes at it all, exhausted enough to lay my head down on my arms too. There was too much. Too many people, too much destruction in one room. Way too much Link, more than I could handle. But now I was alone, in my mind.  
I didn’t want it, oddly enough. It was terrifying to be alone after everything and in a place like this where creatures could be lurking anywhere. I wanted to be home of course, I wanted to talk to someone like I was discussing this all as a bad dream. Maybe I could start, “Earlier? Yeah earlier, this weird thing happened where I threw up like, a shield? Thing? I don’t know what it was but guess what! This hottie totally hates my guts and wants to actually kill me.”  
“Stupid.” I muttered, I’d never talk like that.  
I opened my eyes. In front of me was my hand, resting there, waiting to be used. My blood pulsed, gathering up, flowing and building tension. When it was numb enough, I relaxed. Out of my fingers danced a blue crackling light that diminished immediately. I didn’t try again after that, too afraid of what it was.   
Instead I fell asleep and woke up to a plate of food and someone shaking my shoulder. “Hungry?” Link’s voice lifted me from my nap.   
I shook my head as my stomach churned.   
“Alright, there’s beds upstairs, come up whenever.” he hesitated, “I’m sorry about earlier.”   
I waited for him to leave before taking a bite of the food. It was bland, some kind of meat, but I finished it all and stood up. The stairs creaked, yet I jogged up each one reached the top, a small balcony. Peering down the hallway, I saw only one door open and as I approached I realized there was, in fact, no door at all. When I entered I found two beds, one occupied by a lump and the other vacant.  
Plopping myself on the made up bed, I hesitantly slid under the covers and tried to shut my eyes. I knew I wouldn’t sleep again, but I tried.  
A few hours passed and I felt myself drifting, however, a shuffling across the room woke me out of that. It shifted out of bed, standing up and snatching something off the floor. A strange tone hummed off the walls, following it was an accented voice, speaking in a whisper, “Don’t.”  
A sword slided from its sheath.  
“Why not? You told me-” Link spoke quieter, but in the dead silence nothing escaped my ears. I pretended to sleep.  
“I know what I said.”  
Steps crept closer to my bed, “And what if she’s dangerous?”  
“I don’t think she would’ve revealed her powers if she was.” the voice pressed on, “Honestly, Link, can’t you show her some mercy? She saved your life.”  
He sighed loudly, “It was one dingy arrow.” the sword slid back in, clanking loudly as he stomped back over to the other side of the room and dropped the sheath on the floor with a thud.  
“That’s it, who’s a good boy?”  
“Shut up,” a body plunked back down on the other bed, shifting the covers.  
I pushed myself up and looked over at the other side. Everything had settled back to its original state, except I’d chosen the wrong moment to spring up, Link stared back at me.  
“Uh,” I blinked, wide eyed, “Were you talking to someone?”  
“Uh,” his voice strained itself, “Midna woke me up to talk about something.” he sunk lower into the bed, “Go to back to sleep, we have to get up at dawn.”  
“Alrighty.” I fell back down, ignoring the scent of dust that filled my nostrils and rolled over to the face the wall I would stare at until the first sight of dawn inched through the window.


End file.
